Tom Poynton: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: Lake ZurichWebsite: http://trusteetom.wordpress.com/Office sought: Lake Zurich Village boardAge: 64Family: Spouse: Janet Poynton Children: Tracie, Kim, ChrisOccupation: * Retired: Consumer Products Sales and Marketing Executive * Former small business ownerEducation: Bachelor of Science in Business Management, State University of New York at BuffaloU. S. Army Honorable discharge 1972Civic involvement: * Elected to the Lake Zurich Village Board as a Trustee in April 2007. * 26-year resident of Lake Zurich * Member of St. Frances DeSales Parish, * Vietnam era Army veteran* Booster and community volunteer #8211; Sarah Adams School, Lake Zurich Middle School South and LZ High School, Lake Zurich Quarterback Club, and Ela Area and Lake Zurich High School Soccer Programs * Volunteering in Lake Zurich Parks, Kids Kingdom, 4th of July Picnic, and the annual Lake Zurich Triathlon. * Past chairman of the Village Board#146;s Public Safety Committee * Past liaison to the Building and Zoning Department * Liason to Police Department* Past member of the Board#146;s Finance Committee. * Current member CPAC (Citizens and Police Advisory Committee). * First class to complete the Lake Zurich Police Department#146;s Civilian Police Academy. * Village board representative on the board of directors of SWALCO (Solid Waste Agency of Lake County). * Member of the Lake Zurich Citizens Corps. * Enjoys golf and is an avid bikeist.* Worked on assorted election campaigns.* Citizens Initiative Against Overdevelopment (CIAO)2004 * Various Lake Zurich Lions Club Alpine Fest VolunteerElected offices held: Current: Trustee, Village of Lake Zurich 2007 - to presentHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Continuing the process of restoring financial stability to the Village of Lake Zurich in a thoughtful, responsible manner while minimizing the impact on the services provided to the residents. A huge challenge for sure. If the village can#146;t afford a service or program at a level that can be afforded then it may have to look to the private sector if the resident demand for the service warrants providing that service. The village has a lot of debt in the TIF and unfunded public safety pensions. At some point it will run out of restructured debt band-aids. The board will have to challenge itself and the professional management staff, to look at every expense and request for money. We will continue to look at cuts where applicable and attempt to identify potential new sources of revenue. There are small signs that the economy is improving but not enough to change our goal of defining the #147;new normal#148; #133; do more with less. Certainly as a community we need to invest in our future but we also need to cut where needed. The challenge ahead is to find new sources of revenue without constantly dipping our hands into the pockets of the taxpayers. Key Issue 2 Re-assessing and reinvigorating the development of downtown Lake Zurich; finding the right mix in a post-recession economy #133; a work in progress.Key Issue 3 I am almost through my four-year term. I have advocated for change, accountability and transparency in village government. I have advocated for a fair shake for all residents, taxpayers and businesses. Many of the issues I ran on four years ago are too complex to be fixed in one term. For example, Village finances took 15 years to get in the shape that they are; downtown re-vitalization has been a topic since the 1950#146;s. Progress has been made and I continue to work on those issues. I ran on changing the #147;culture#148; of village government #133; that is happening. I ran on increased transparency and accountability #133; that is happening. I ran on respecting and improving upon the processes we use as a municipality #133; that is happening. I ran on improving the #147;customer service#148; that we offer our residents #133; and that is happening. We are better today than we were four years ago.We have two choices: We can work to attain mediocrity or we can work to pursue perfection. The simple pursuit of #147;perfection#148; helps remove most ambiguity and misinterpretations and ultimately saves taxpayer money for legal expenses. I have been willing to put in the work and effort required and I will continue to do so. I am willing to continue to work to revise and revisit issues and decisions to achieve perfection or as close to it as we can get. Often times it is messy and painful but if we don#146;t get it as close to right as we can the first time, we can be sure it will cost us a lot more to fix it later, as we are finding out.Questions Answers The village has made several program and job cuts, and even considered selling Paulus Park to help shore up finances. What ideas do you have to balance the budget?The village did not consider selling Paulus Park. The board, responding to a suggestion from staff, considered selling a very small portion of Paulus Park and decided, patially based on strong public sentiment, against any sale because it was not in the best interests of the residents to do so.The village does own properties that it could possibly declare as #147;excess#148; or #147;surplus#148; and offer those properties for sale but only after following the required processes to do so. The potential sale that could result will do nothing more than help us prop up our reserve fund which has dipped lower than we would like it to be. The village board and staff will continue to fine-tune our budget balancing process. Recently the board and staff, with public input, collaborated on a new Strategic Plan to which future budgets will be tied. We will spend our money in furtherance of the Strategic Plan.We have improved our frugality and money management and we will need to become even more frugal. Additional cuts may, at some point, have to be made. Re-tooling operations, combining functions and even outsourcing where practical will need to be considered to further lower the cost of delivering the services our residents have come to expect of the Village. There are not too many sources of revenue remaining that we haven#146;t tapped. Revenue growth will come mostly from new projects and an upturn in the economy that will help fill empty storefronts and generate increased sales taxes and new project property taxes.What do you think the village must do to stabilize the downtown redevelopment plan and move it to completion?Several years back one of the consultants the village used recommended an approach that would utilize multiple developers in order to limit the village#146;s potential for catastrophic developer failure. Sort of don#146;t put all your eggs in one basket approach. We need to re-examine that idea and possibly return to that philosophy. Regardless, we must increase our efforts to inform both the financial and the developer communities that we are open for business, that we have a great community in which to set up shop, and that we have some terrific properties to develop. Additionally we need to increase our marketing of Lake Zurich and the Lake Zurich area. Ultimately, the Village needs to spur economic development by working with proven and responsible developers to fill vacant commercial and industrial properties and to develop downtown Lake Zurich.Should the size, scope and focus of the downtown plan be adjusted? What should that vision be?I recently had a conversation with a local Chamber of Commerce member who told me that he would like to see downtown Lake Zurich become #147;vibrant#148; again. I#146;ve lived in Lake Zurich for 26 years. I don#146;t recall downtown ever being what I would consider #147;vibrant#148;. BUT #133; it was functional. There were small businesses providing some of the services that residents used. These businesses came and went over the years. There were, at some points in time, four restaurants west of Old Rand Rd. These restaurants drew people to downtown Lake Zurich.Downtown Libertyville and downtown Barrington seem similar to me (ut much larger) in that they have a mix of old and new that seems to work. Their downtowns are functional and there are destination restaurants and businesses. Those are models we should consider emulating as we move forward. I#146;m not so sure the #147;Disneyland#148; approach on a limited access private lake would work in the changed economy.What role can the village board play in helping fill vacant storefronts in the community?A collaboration of the village board and village staff has resulted in an Economic Development section on the Village web site. The site includes topics such as: The Lake Zurich Advantage; Community Information; Site and Building Information (with listings of retail and industrial sites currently available); Lake Zurich Area Consumer Research; Business License Information; Business Support Directory. The role of the Village Board as #147;Development Ambassadors#148; needs to be expanded, to work with developers. Board members need to actively recruit new commercial occupants to fill vacant properties. The Board can also encourage increased occupancy by advocating for more streamlined permitting (which is being done) and by providing limited, well thought out, and fiscally responsible incentives, where appropriate.Are you in favor of spending the money needed to bring Lake Michigan water to Lake Zurich? Why or why not?I am in favor of exploring the cost/expense/benefit issue in greater detail. We only have rough estimates of what the total cost could be. We just recently received notification from the IDNR that we have been approved for an allocation. We are a long way from pumping water from Lake Michigan to Lake Zurich. We will be evaluating our options and our costs. We already know that we have to invest in our future. We already know that it won#146;t be inexpensive. We already know that we will need to go to referendum for voter approval of any large expenditure.